Shari Randall's"Pets" will be included in Chesapeake Crimes: Fur, Feathers, and Felonies anthology, which will be published in 2018. In the same anthology "Rasputin," KM Rockwood'sshort story, will also bepublished. Her short story "Goldie" will be published in the Busted anthology, which will be released by Level Best Books on April 25th.

Shari Randall's second Lobster Shack Mystery, Against the Claw, will be available in August, 2018.

In addition, our prolific KMhas had the following shorts published as well: "Making Tracks" in Passport to Murder, Bouchercon anthology, October 2017 and "Turkey Underfoot," appears in the anthology The Killer Wore Cranberry: A Fifth Course of Chaos.

Friday, February 3, 2012

My Dad's short stories I

My Dad's Short Stories

I’ve written before on this blog about my father and helping him write his memoires. My father introduces me to his friends with, “He wrote my autobiography.” Not long after we finished he was diagnosed with dementia.Quite some time later, unexpectedly, he decided to write short stories. Since he started writing, his mental abilities have remained stable — substantially diminished from his initial level but stable.Others with his diagnosis have declined over time. My mother and I believe that writing has helped him keep up his sense of humor, interest in the world around him and even hope for the future. With his permission, while I am going through the process of having cataract surgery on both eyes, I thought I would share some of his efforts with you.

Dad’s Short Stories

MANGER 1-8-‘12

Away in a manger lies Jesus. He lays in total innocence getting ready for anything that will come. He has known the Spirit of God for many years. He was much older than the Spirit of God but he stayed with him anyway.

He already knew the characters of God and had known them for many years. He knew the good points of people like Adam, John, and Lazarus. Their work was yet to come. They journeyed for many years, even thousands of years. He had looked for husbands for some characters. He had found wives for a large number of Mongols. He found wives for every head of state. He knew of their good points and the foibles of all the world’s famous people as he guided them in what they were supposed to do. He showed them what God wanted them to do. He showed them how to handle the gate and not to stay as they all preferred. In other words, he showed them how to please the Savior. They were all ready to do Gods’ good work. No one is perfect in every way. They could only work with what they had. The Savior was pleased with what he saw. He could read western magazines and sleep. He called on Ike and helped guide him during his service.

RABBIT 1-3-‘12

The rabbit enjoyed Mr. McRae’s garden patch. Mr. McRae’s eyesight wasn’t very good so if caught, the rabbit didn’t move and the rabbit chuckled as Mr. McRae continued to look for him. The rabbit liked lettuce best of all. He also liked radishes and corn. Mr. McRae looked in the tomatoes a lot. Mrs. McRae was different. She had good vision but neither of them was able to catch the rabbit. The rabbit spent quite a bit of time in their neighbor’s garden but for some reason he particularly enjoyed teasing Mr. McRae. The third garden in the neighborhood was further away. So the rabbit didn’t get into it but occasionally. Then he overheard Mrs. McRae talking to her husband. She said that this rabbit never works in the garden at all. He just eats the stuff without helping. He thought about her side that night. She was right. So the rabbits stopped eating out of Mr. McRae’s garden. Their two children were well cared for and they lived in Farson. That is all.

7 comments:

I'm glad your Dad is using his creativity, Warren. This morning I was supposed to meet a friend. She cancelled because her 86 year old mother was having problems. She was frightened and couldn't recognize anyone. Old age can be horrible or wonderful. Your dad seems to be enjoying himself, and that's important. Great baby picture Warren!

I firmly believe that writing helps our mental health whether it's fiction, memoirs, poetry or keeping a journal. My dad suffered from dementia later in life, but in any ways, he still remembered so much and kept his sense of humor. The worse thing that happened to him, though, was having a stroke that kept him from communicating. We knew he understood us, but he couldn't get the words out to answer. An old friend came to visit him once. My dad was so happy to see this man that he hadn't seen in many years, but didn't have the words to express it so he took the man's hand and kissed it. I'm glad you are enjoying your father, and he is enjoying his family.